An article on Far Out Magazine explores how singer Billie Holiday shaped the vocal style of Joni Mitchell, one of the most acclaimed songwriters in popular music. It argues that both artists achieved iconic status not through technically perfect voices, but by embracing distinctive phrasing and emotional honesty, placing them alongside figures such as Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Björk as vocalists who rejected conventional norms in favour of expressive nuance.

The piece draws on Mitchell's own praise for Holiday, whom she credited with conveying hurt and loss without self-pity or melodrama, citing songs such as "Strange Fruit" and "God Bless the Child" as evidence of her emotional depth. Mitchell singled out Holiday's ability to combine that raw feeling with genuine vocal range, allowing her to elevate otherwise conventional material, a quality Mitchell described as "her great gift". The article concludes that this fusion of emotion and technical mastery is why neither Holiday's nor Mitchell's performances have ever been successfully covered by other artists.